Petro Georgiou (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion of condolence moved by the Prime Minister for the Hon. Frank Crean. I first came into contact with Frank Crean in the 1960s through my friendship with his son the late Stephen Crean, with whom I attended Melbourne High School—‘the honourable Stephen’, as we then called him in mock deference to his father’s political prominence. It was a great sadness when Stephen was lost in a blizzard.

I met Frank Crean again in the course of the 1970s when I was working for Malcolm Fraser and then again in the course of the 1980s when he was appointed a member of the Australian Institute of Multicultural Affairs, of which I was director. Frank was remarkably accessible, considerate and supportive of the institute and its objectives. Malcolm Fraser, who is not an easy person to get plaudits from, described Frank Crean as ‘one of the most decent and honourable members of parliament I have ever met’. I think it is worth noting that all the senior liberal parliamentarians who watched him move through the vicissitudes of the Whitlam government held him in the highest regard for his integrity and his decency. That at the end of this troubled period he assumed the position of Deputy Leader of the Labor Party and Deputy Prime Minister of Australia attests to his qualities and to his commitment to Australia and the Australian Labor Party. My sincere condolences go to his wife, Mary, his sons, Simon and David, and to the family.

Greg Combet (Charlton, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I of course also wish to add my voice to the condolence motion in respect of the late Hon. Frank Crean. Frank was Deputy Prime Minister in 1975 and Minister for Trade in 1974 and 1975, and prior to that was Treasurer in the Whitlam government from 1972 to 1974. He was the member for Melbourne Ports—an electorate in which I lived for 14 years—for 26 years from 1951 to 1977. Further evidence of his commitment to public service can be found in the fact that he was a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1945 to 1947, whereupon he lost the election but returned to the Legislative Assembly and served again from 1949 to 1951, when he was elected as the federal member for Melbourne Ports.

Frank Crean was unquestionably one of the great Labor politicians of the 20th century. I believe Frank Crean was the embodiment of many Labor values, including the belief in fairness and justice in society, which runs through the great Labor tradition. Although I met Frank on a number of occasions only over the last 10 years, in the latter period of his life, I have known his son Simon since 1985 when I happened to be in attendance at the ACTU executive meeting, which was his first upon his election as President of the ACTU. The meeting was held in Newcastle, where I now reside.

All who know Frank’s family would concur with the fact that Frank and his wife, Mary, passed on to all their sons—Simon, David and Stephen—all the Labor values that are so important to our movement. In particular, they passed on a sense of personal decency and the importance of personal integrity and how one must conduct oneself. All of those values not only encompassed a general commitment to social justice but also accompanied a very practical understanding, embodied in Frank, of the nature of the Australian economy and of the importance of economic growth in the achievement of social justice. In his first speech to the House of Representatives on 26 June 1951, which I was perusing this morning, all of those Labor values and beliefs were firmly on display and placed on the record. In his first speech, Frank spoke extensively about economic issues and the importance of increasing productivity, for example, as a means to achieve social justice. He said:

… it is equally important, even should that productivity be increased, to consider how the total productivity is shared among the various sections of the community. That involves a matter of social justice, of quality as well as of quantity.

He went on to make observations about wages growth at the time, saying:

… sections of the community are receiving a greater proportionate share of national income at the expense of the majority of the people—

the wage earners. Frank, in his maiden speech, also articulated a very strong commitment to the machinery of the conciliation and arbitration system as a means of achieving a fairer distribution of income. Frank also understood and respected, as was observed in his conduct through his many years of service, the role of trade unions as part of the wider labour movement in pursuit of a fairer distribution of income and more just outcomes in society.

Frank also made a range of observations in his first speech that I think were pertinent about the taxation system and its distributive effect. Referring to the period immediately prior to the Second World War, he said:

… the Commonwealth relied principally upon indirect methods of taxation … for its revenues. Such moneys were collected from the people, not according to their capacity to their pay, but according to their consumption of particular articles. But the most socially desirable form of taxation, because it is the most socially equitable, is the progressive income tax, which is levied on individuals according to their capacity to pay. A Labour government was the first administration in Australia to recognize that there were certain desirable social principles to be followed in the levying of taxes. A Labour government was the first administration in this country to impose income tax; and … it is possible, by the use of that taxation instrument, to redistribute the national income, taking money from people according to their capacity to pay and redistributing it according to various categories of social need.

I have referred extensively to some of Frank Crean’s economic observations because his practical understanding of the economy, combined with his values and principles, is evidenced throughout his 26 years of public service as a parliamentarian in this place and in the representation of his constituents. He took that experience and belief into his time as Treasurer in the Whitlam government. That is particularly pertinent because lessons learnt from that period of time have informed Labor’s approach to economic management and the pursuit of its social justice goals since that time.

Within the Labor movement today, Frank Crean is rightly recognised—and most recently by the Prime Minister in his condolence motion to the House yesterday—as one of the finest ministers in the Whitlam government and as having brought a depth of economic knowledge to that role. The records of the time clearly demonstrate Frank’s concern about the economic conditions in the first couple of years of the Whitlam government: the pressure of rapidly expanding expenditure and the importance of tighter fiscal policy to help contain inflation.

The cabinet submissions sponsored by Frank Crean, which have become available under the 30-years rule, demonstrate that in 1973 expenditure was growing by around 15½ per cent and that there were significant wage pressures. It is easy to gain the impression, when perusing the reports and the records from that time, that Frank Crean was something of a lone voice. One can only imagine the pressures that he must have felt. That is consistent with the theme that I was articulating a moment ago—that is, his belief that, to achieve social equity and social justice, there needed to be sound economic management and that a strong economy can lead to a fair society.

In the Labor movement I think it is fair to say that, following the Whitlam government period, the lessons and the thinking of Frank Crean as Treasurer at the time, and his thoughts in relation to that period, were subsequently enormously influential in shaping the economic approach of the Hawke and Keating governments. History demonstrates that Labor became great economic reformers in the 1980s and the 1990s and far more disciplined in economic management, cognisant of the need for market liberalisation and a more efficient allocation of resources yet retaining commitment to fair and equitable outcomes.

I think that the son of Frank and Mary, Simon, embodies this approach very strongly in today’s parliament as the member for Hotham, as the Minister for Trade, as a former parliamentary leader of the Labor Party and as in fact a member of the Labor executive since 1990. I have tremendously high regard for Simon. I particularly enjoyed the time during which we worked together in leadership roles in the labour movement, he after 2001 as parliamentary leader and me as ACTU secretary. David Crean was equally influenced by the family environment and their values and the economic discourse that must have occurred around the family. He served as a parliamentarian in the Tasmanian parliament and also as Treasurer of the state.

I have a great degree of admiration for Frank Crean’s contribution to the Labor movement and I am firm in the belief, as I indicated at the outset, that he was one of the titans of the Labor movement in the 20th century. He and Mary had a partnership that extended well beyond 60 years. They experienced terrible tragedy, too, with the loss of their son Stephen in 1985. As anyone who witnesses parents who lose a child knows, it was a dreadful experience, particularly given the circumstances of that loss. I extend my condolences to Mary Crean, to Simon and David and to all of the members of the extended Crean family.

Jennie George (Throsby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I join with the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition to note with great sadness the passing of the Hon. Frank Crean, former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia, who, until his death, held the distinction of being the oldest former member of the House of Representatives. My connection with Frank and Mary Crean is through their son Simon, who played an instrumental role in both the National Union of Workers and the ACTU in the 1980s. In 1981, Simon Crean became vice-president of the ACTU and then its president in 1985. It was during this period that I worked closely with Simon and his very longstanding and close friend Bill Kelty.

Simon played a key role in negotiating several accords with the Labor government headed then by former ACTU president Bob Hawke. It was interesting to hear the reflections of the member for Charlton when he read excerpts from Frank Crean’s first speech in this House. The economic worldview held by Frank and his approach to economic growth and productivity and social justice must have played a very important role in shaping the enormous contribution that Simon made throughout that decade in trying to forge a better Australia. As I said, it was through my friendship with Simon in that period that I got to know Frank and Mary; Simon’s wife, Carole; his brother, David; and members of the extended family. Fate has it that my partner, Denis Lennen, was also a long-time friend of the Creans. He and Simon go back probably 30 years and more.

It was a very tight-knit family; a genuine Labor family. Public service was at the core of the family’s beliefs. In reading and reflecting about Frank’s life, one comes to understand better the meaning of ‘like father, like son’. There is so much of Frank that continues to live through Simon and his brother, David. Born in Hamilton in Victoria in 1916, Frank Crean was struck by adversity at a very early age. I read that he spent a year in bed with rheumatic fever at age 13. Adversities like that help shape a person’s commitments and values later in life.

I read—and I do not know if the story is right—that in that formative period of Frank’s life he relied very much on books provided by one of his neighbours, who just happened to be the secretary of the local ALP branch and a member of the AWU. Frank did very well at school and went on to live in Melbourne to attend the prestigious Melbourne Boys High School, as did Simon much later. He graduated with degrees in arts and commerce and a diploma in public administration.

He had a lengthy association with the Labor Party, going back to his formal joining of the party in 1942. He was elected as the representative for the seat of Albert Park in the Victorian Legislative Assembly in 1945 and later for the seat of Prahran in 1949. He was a very earnest local member. I remember that, in the time when I lived in Melbourne, wherever you went Frank Crean was a very well-known local dignitary, and people remember his dedicated years of service. As well as doing all that and being such a good local representative, he was also—and I did not know this—president of the Young Labor Association, president of the Victorian Fabian Society and president of the Council of Adult Education. So he was not just serving as a local representative but also contributing to the ideas and policy formation that are so important for the Labor Party.

In 1951 he contested the seat of Melbourne Ports and, amazingly, he held that seat for 26 years and through 11 federal elections. That is a distinction in its own right. When Labor won office in 1972 after 23 years in the political wilderness, Frank Crean went on to become the nation’s federal Treasurer in very difficult economic times. The member for Charlton, in his contribution, outlined the challenges that faced Frank Crean in his capacity as Treasurer. Later he became the Minister for Overseas Trade—so, again, like father like son; we see our colleague Simon Crean now carrying out that role with great distinction—and later on he became the Deputy Prime Minister of this nation until the dismissal of the Whitlam government in 1975. Frank finally retired from the federal parliament in 1977. He was also, for a lengthy period of time, a member of the executive of the federal parliamentary Labor Party, holding a position on that executive from 1955 until his retirement in 1977. It is amazing to think that, although he reached the heights of being the Deputy Prime Minister of this nation, of Frank’s 26 years in federal parliament only three were actually served in government, but, as I said earlier, contesting 11 elections, particularly in that part of Melbourne, is no mean feat.

Frank married Mary Findlay in 1946. Mary was Frank’s bedrock in a marriage of 63 years. Mary’s contribution to Frank’s political career is inestimable. As well, her contribution in accepting the major responsibility of rearing three wonderful sons is something that she should take a lot of credit for—the three sons, Simon, David and Stephen, and the six wonderful grandchildren. It is no surprise that Simon and David followed in Frank’s footsteps, devoting themselves to the notion of public service. It was a great tragedy for the family to lose their son and brother Stephen in very tragic circumstances, but the family has always been a very close-knit and an inspirational one. When you see all the members of that extended family gathered at the Creans’ family home, you appreciate the strong bonds of affection and love that extend way beyond the immediate family.

Frank Crean was a decent, dedicated and honourable man and a Labor man through and through, deeply committed to the party he loved and to the principle of public service. I believe he served the Labor Party with great distinction. On behalf of Denis Lennen and myself, I extend my sympathy to Mary Crean, to Simon and Carole, to David and Sue and to the extended family. Our thoughts are with you in this difficult time.

John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with deep regret that I too note the passing of the former Deputy Prime Minister, Treasurer and Minister for Overseas Trade, the Hon. Frank Crean, MP. Being a party man to the end it is perhaps no coincidence that Frank Crean passed away on 2 December 2008, the 36th anniversary of the election of the Whitlam government.

There can be no doubt that Frank Crean was a genuine Labor legend. He was instrumental in transforming Labor into an election winning force following a long and frustrating period in opposition. We on this side of the House will never underestimate his contribution in building and rebuilding the party during some of its darkest days, culminating in his delivery in 1973 of the first Labor budget, following 23 long years in opposition. The honour of delivering that budget could not have been handed to a more dedicated and fiscally competent Treasurer. As Treasurer he faced very challenging international and domestic circumstances including a major oil shock, high inflation and rising unemployment.

Frank Crean was a fellow of the Australian Society of Accountants. He obtained a diploma in public administration, an honours degree in arts and a bachelor of commerce. He was an authority on income tax. His qualifications alone would ensure that he was one of the outstanding figures in the Labor Party and one of the leading thinkers on how Australia could become a just, effective and competitive country under a Labor government.

While the record will show that he had his disagreements with his cabinet colleagues, the record will also show he was very much respected. Frank Crean was a man with strong convictions. He was a man of passion. He was measured. He recognised that reform would only be achieved through cooperation and inclusion. Frank Crean’s considerable breadth of knowledge, depth of thinking and precision in application was not accompanied by a large ego. Indeed, as we all know, he was a truly humble man. Moreover, he was a man of quiet principle and, as many have noted, he was a very decent man.

Like the majority of members on both sides of this House, Frank Crean entered parliament with an unselfish commitment to public service. He lived through two world wars and a great depression. His inspiration to redress social injustices and inequalities was no doubt stimulated by his observations of unemployment and poverty in his youth. He dedicated 30 years to parliamentary life. He pursued fundamental Labor values. He was a loyal and faithful servant of our party, the parliament and the constituents he so well represented. Despite the cynicism that can often be attached to those in parliamentary life, Frank Crean was publicly recognised as someone who did much to reaffirm the value of public service. As the Prime Minister mentioned yesterday in this place, Frank Crean was ‘deeply admired, just as he was a deeply principled man’.

No one can ever doubt that he was motivated by the public interest and what was good for Australia. Those that served in this place with Frank Crean have spoken directly, personally and eloquently of his contribution. The member for Berowra has said:

He was an exemplar in the way in which he carried out his own role, but he encouraged people like me, even though I was of a different political persuasion.

Former Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser has described Frank Crean as ‘one of the most decent and honourable members of parliament I have ever known’. The Leader of the Opposition, the honourable Malcolm Turnbull, said yesterday:

In many ways it is in Frank Crean’s family that we find his greatest legacy.

There can be no doubt that both David and Simon Crean grew up in a political environment, an environment imbued with policy discussions and an environment focussed on positive change for the future. It is no surprise that both Simon and David have had distinguished political careers in their own right.

It is also no surprise that the unselfish values of their father have been passed on to them. I have worked very closely with Simon for many years, more recently as his Parliamentary Secretary for Trade, and observed Simon’s very considerable abilities, energy, diligence, fierce determination and devotion to faithfully serve our country—as many have said, ‘like father, like son’. Frank Crean’s intelligence, character, values and thorough decency burn brightly through Simon in this place today. Indeed Simon and David both provide us with a perpetual reminder of their father’s humility, modesty and dedication to public service.

On behalf of my wife, Adriana, and my staff, I extend my prayers and deepest sympathy to Mrs Mary Crean, her children, Simon and David, and their respective families. Just as they mourn the passing of a dedicated husband and father, we too mourn the passing of a dedicated Australian, a dedicated parliamentarian and a dedicated Labor Party member. May Frank Crean rest in peace.

Michael Danby (Melbourne Ports, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the present member for Melbourne Ports, the seat that Frank Crean represented in this House for 26 years, it is an honour for me to rise in support of the motion moved by the Prime Minister and supported by the Leader of the Opposition. It would have given Frank Crean great pleasure to know that he was being farewelled in this place by a Labor Prime Minister, because he devoted his whole life to the service of the great Australian labour movement, as well as to his family and the people of Melbourne Ports.

When Frank was elected as the Member for Melbourne Ports in 1951, succeeding another great Labor titan, Ted Holloway, it was a very different area to the one I now represent. It extended from Williamstown to Albert Park, and its core was the working class stronghold of Port Melbourne. It was only 20 years since the Depression and most of the people of the area had vivid memories of the unemployment, hunger and poverty they had suffered in those terrible years, brought about by the failure, as they saw it, of the capitalist system. It was Frank’s job to speak for that community here in Canberra, and he never forgot why he was here or who he represented.

Other members have given an outline of Frank Crean’s career, which took him from Hamilton in the western district, where his father was a miner and a bicycle maker, to Melbourne University and then on to the office of Deputy Prime Minister. It was Frank Crean’s misfortune to be part of a generation of Labor politicians who were destined to spend most of their careers in opposition during the long rule of Sir Robert Menzies. These were the bitter years of division in the Labor movement between communists and groupers, and they often battled those groups in the Port Melbourne docks.

Although Frank Crean had been preselected in 1951 as a supporter of the Left, he was always at heart a realist. He stayed loyal to the Labor Party in the great split of the 1950s, but he was never part of the outlandish ideological debates that took place in Victoria and he always supported a realistic line on issues. He was a proud graduate of Melbourne High School. I have, since 1988, continued the tradition of association with Melbourne High and the students of the VCE who have such an abiding interest in politics.

Frank Crean was one of the first Labor members with a university education in economics, and he gradually steered Labor from its increasingly obsolete ideology of the Chifley era and helped lay the foundations for Gough Whitlam’s modernisation of the Labor Party in the 1960s. As many people have said, Frank was a modest and humble man. Frank and Mary Crean lived the whole of their married lives in Albert Park, and Frank was often seen riding the South Melbourne tram or shopping at the local market in Prahran. In fact, I often met him on the tram and/or at the Prahran market with my kids when they were little. He was always available to the working people of Port Melbourne, Albert Park and South Melbourne, which were not the gentrified suburbs they are today. He never thought he was better than them because he had a university degree or because he was an MP. In the days before MPs employed social workers in their electoral offices, Frank saw his electors himself whenever he could and did what he could to solve their problems.

In 1969 the boundaries of Melbourne Ports were enlarged to include St Kilda and Elwood, which were then largely middle-class and Liberal voting areas. On the new boundaries, Melbourne Ports became a notionally Liberal seat. It is a tribute to Frank’s campaigning skills and his rapport with people that he rapidly won over these new areas for Labor and made Melbourne Ports nearly as safe as it was before.

I think it is fair to say that when Frank Crean finally got to be a minister in 1972 he found the experience disappointing. Just as is happening now, the Liberals, having coasted for years on boom times, left Labor to cope with a crisis driven by overseas forces—in Frank’s case, the global recession that followed the oil shock of 1973. Frank Crean did not trust the orthodox economic advice he was getting from the Treasury but he sometimes lacked the support of his colleagues in cabinet for taking a different line. He was undermined by Jim Cairns and his supporters, and eventually Gough Whitlam shifted him from Treasury to trade. When Cairns self-destructed in the loans affair of 1975, Frank justly succeeded him as Deputy Prime Minister, an honour he fully deserved in view of his long and loyal service.

After leaving politics, Frank could have retired to the Gold Coast, but he and Mary stayed in Albert Park and continued to work for the local people and for the Labor Party. He took a particular interest in the welfare of new immigrants who had moved into the area since the 1970s. He continued to go to local branch meetings and every election day—the last time was in 2001, when I think he was 85—he stood like an old soldier handing out how-to-vote cards at the Middle Park polling booth. I would see him when I was going round the booths.

Frank was sustained by his strong Labor principles, his firm religious faith and the support of Mary Crean, the most loyal of partners. It was these things that gave him strength during the ordeal of their son Stephen’s death in 1985. He was very proud, and rightly so, of his sons Simon, our colleague in this House and our trade minister, and David, formerly a Labor government minister in Tasmania. The members and supporters of the Australian Labor Party in Melbourne Ports are deeply thankful for Frank Crean’s lifetime of service to them and to our cause. In their name as well as my own I extend my deepest sympathies to Mary, Simon, David and all members of the Crean family.